If your worried about storing your E85 just use K100. It takes all the water out of the E85 & you can store it for a long time.

 

I've been running e85 in my vette for 3 years and let it sit all winter in the garage every year and never had a problem come spring

 

Measure the content with a hydrometer. It’s clear one has more ethanol in it than the other and it was like that when you put it in your car. When I pick what station I use each year I go around with my tester and see which has the highest ethanol closest to 85%. ( put fuel in a clear container and bring home to measure it)

I Grantee the yellow one is around 70% and the clear one is closer to 80%

You can physically see which one has more gasoline in it. I don’t think it has anything to do with it sitting in your tank..

 

Both fuels were E83-E85. I have a Zeitronix Ethanol Content Analyzer in my car.

Don

 

Since we have a 3-4 month down time for winter, I usually switch the car back to pump gas before storing it and keep the tank full. In the spring, I either run it out or pump the 93 into cans and put it in another car to use up. Then switch back to E85.

Last winter, I had 1/4 tank of e85 in the car because I spun a rod bearing in the motor. It sat for about 5 months. When it was time to fire up, I put fresh E85 in with the 1/4 tank and it ran fine. Never tried to run it on undiluted old stuff, though.

 

What about leaving E85 in the tank for 2 to 3 months at a time between start ups? Will that be an issue for the car?

 

my car sat for 3 months with half tank of e85, fired it up and took it out. AFR's were right where I left them and it seemed fine. It's been sitting another 1-2months since then, and I'll be getting it back out soon, I expect no issues.

 

good to know so when I go to E85

 

What's the worst issue anyone has ran into?

 

Hypothetically speaking, engine failure is likely if you run the car hard with bad fuel. The likelihood of that depends on so many things though. How bad the fuel got / how at the limits the tune is to start with, how long the person runs the car all out before noticing a problem, how long after... I mentioned how bad fuel and how borderline the tune of together because they go hand in hand. A really conservative tune can handle differences in fuel quality much better than a tune taking advantage of good fuel and pushing it to its limits.

 

I know this is an old post but Continental ethanol sensors (like the Zeitronix uses) measures the lack of gasoline content. So if you had 50% Ethanol, 30% water and 20% gasoline, the sensor would measure E80.

I left "E85" in my tank for 6 months once. I didn't start the car, I drained the oil and the oil looked like water and brown oil. It was nasty. Glad I changed the oil before I started the car. Then I changed the oil after 500 miles and it looked like a normal oil change. Obviously not very scientific but the visual was enough for me.

This was in "mild" California climate as well.

 

That's good to know. I have been on E85 in my Lotus Elise for quite a few years and have been worried about the what ifs that could be coming. I'll keep a closer eye on the oil.
Biggest problem I have had to date has been getting actual E 85 as the few stations in Utah all have E-70 I travel to quite a few out of state races and stock up on 85 when I can.

 

Just to revive this thread with some information. This E85 was picked up April 2014 and stored in a container for a while now its in a garage. Its stored in your regular 55 gallon steel drums and on wood blocks so it doesn't pick up condensation from the concrete. I also put siliica gel/dry packs on the bungs of the drums just to keep any other moisture from entering. And here is result of the test still comes out to about 82-83% E85 it has no floaties or weird color/smell to it.

 

Looks great! Now report back next year

 

Cool.